


The Bells Are Ringing

by Sendryl



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Doctor Nohara Rin, F/F, Femslash February, Nohara Rin Lives, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tinnitus, Village-Bound Mitarashi Anko, You get more Rinko, You wanted more Rinko, they're really cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:07:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22792234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sendryl/pseuds/Sendryl
Summary: "What are you doing?"Anko’s heard that one before. It isn't the most common of soulmarks, but she’s heard some iteration of ‘what are you doing?’ more times than she can remember.Right now, she just wants everything to go away and leave her in peace."I've got tinnitus, asshole. This makes it go away. Sometimes."Rin’s soulmark, on the other hand, is very uncommon, and it was the reason she'd gone into medicine in the first place.
Relationships: Mitarashi Anko/Nohara Rin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 115
Collections: Femslash February





	The Bells Are Ringing

**Author's Note:**

> I've fallen in love with Rin/Anko, but instead of reading what's out there (and I'm dreading the moment I realize how little fic there is out there, I'm pretty sure this is a pool noodle adrift in the ocean of Naruto ships), I decided to write my own.
> 
> (Rated Mature because Anko and Rin say 'fuck'.)
> 
> Enjoy!

"What are you doing?"

Anko's heard that one before. It isn't the most common of soulmarks, but as soon as she was old enough to read, she decided that since she'd be doing something strange when she met her soulmate, she might as well not bother to develop a sense of restraint or any semblance of common sense. Her childhood plan backfired terribly, in the end.

Her lack of care for rules and standards of behavior had been one of the things that had drawn her and Orochimaru to work together. Both of them had been dead set on ignoring and sometimes outright defying societal expectations. Anko had always wondered whether the snake sannin had the same reason she did, the same type of soulmark guiding him to forge his own path through life, but he’d never mentioned his soulmark and she’d never asked and then it was far too late.

Being Orochimaru’s student only caused more people to ask what she was up to. Trying to stop him from leaving the village had only won her his curse mark, his seal painting an easy target for hate and scorn and suspicion. The longer she was forced to stay in Konoha, the more often people looked at her with questions in their eyes. And eventually, when some of their fear faded, they started asking those questions.

With the way her life has gone, she’s heard some iteration of ‘what are you doing?’ more times than she can remember. At this point, whenever anyone echoes the words on her skin, she just makes sure to respond as oddly as she can.

But right now her ears are ringing like mad, the results of her explosively angry teenage years rolling around to kick her right in the ass, and she just wants everything to go away and leave her in peace.

She doesn’t even bother to open her eyes when she responds.

"I've got tinnitus, asshole. This makes it go away. Sometimes."

It doesn’t really, but it might decrease the volume a little, which makes trying worth the effort, especially with how bad it is today.

Anko’s had chronic tinnitus for years, and most of her waking hours are spent becoming increasingly frustrated at the ringing in her ears and the way the rest of the village doesn’t have to deal with even half the shit she does, and it’s a big part of the reason she doesn’t have many friends.

There are very few people who can deal with her when she’s annoyed. The group of people she can call friends is basically down to Ibiki and Kakashi at this point, and Ibiki’s her boss and almost doesn’t count.

Deciding not to remember how utterly pathetic it is to only have maybe two friends, she starts tugging at her earlobes again, hard enough to make her ears pop, trying to focus on the background noise around her instead of the incessant ringing. There’s a group of children laughing and shouting as they run past the park she’s in, a flock of birds cawing overhead, a stifled intake of breath from the person standing in front of her.

Anko sighs and opens her eyes, slumping further onto the park bench, still tugging on her ears.

There’s a woman standing in front of her. Anko’s seen her before, but only in passing, fleeting glimpses of a pretty face with purple clan marks as she moves in lockstep with Kakashi and Obito on their way out the village gates for missions.

This must be Rin.

Kakashi’s told her about his teammates, Obito the ever-late and Rin the ever-absent, but Anko’s never met either of them. She tends to scare Obito, if the way he disappears as soon as he notices her is any indication, and according to Kakashi, Rin is a complete workaholic. She’s always either on a mission or at work in the hospital, and is well on her way to becoming Konoha’s favorite medic-nin. Her bedside manner is reported to be much kinder than most, even though she doesn’t take any nonsense. She’s even rumored to have let shinobi escape the hospital, only to track them down in their homes to finish treatment in a more comfortable environment.

Anko wouldn’t know. She’s been confined to the village since Orochimaru branded her, so none of her injuries get reported on mission scrolls and win her a free hospital trip. She could head to the hospital herself, with training injuries or wounds from spars, but like most shinobi, she’d frankly rather get sepsis than spend a night in the hospital. Spending months on end confined to a single hospital room after her former-sensei’s defection while Minato and Kushina poked and prodded at her had been enough of a hospital stay for a lifetime.

Rin might be kind, might have a good bedside manner and a ridiculous work ethic, might be Kakashi’s friend and an excellent shinobi, but she’s definitely staring at Anko, worry and nervousness clear in her expression, and Anko doesn’t hold back her tongue.

“Don’t look so frightened, Rin-chan,” she croons with a wicked grin, annoyed and tired of the way everyone is _still_ expecting her to turn out like Orochimaru. She’s always been loyal, a good shinobi and an excellent interrogator and _never_ a traitor, and the way everyone doubts her will always stab its way deep underneath her armor and leave behind a lingering _hurt._ “If I decide to go crazy, you’ll be the first to know.”

Anko’s voice is mocking and cruel, her eyes lighting harsh and cold, but Rin doesn’t flinch away. Instead she blushes, and that’s not a reaction Anko’s ever gotten before.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude,” Rin says, and she sounds like she’s just rolled out of bed, the words husky and rough with sleep, and Anko hides her shiver. Now that she’s close, Anko can see that Rin isn’t just pretty, she’s _gorgeous,_ and Anko hates the way she wishes Rin was even closer.

Rin huffs, at herself, judging by the way she’s looking off to the side and not at Anko, and then her expression firms. She meets Anko’s eyes again.

“Can I try something?” Rin asks, and she slowly raises her hands up to either side of Anko’s face.

Anko has no idea what is going on, and all she can do is let go of her ears and answer in an incredibly confused, “Huh?”

“Can I try something?” Rin repeats, moving her hands closer, fingers stretched back behind Anko’s head, out of sight. “Please?” Rin adds, as her hands start to glow with medical chakra.

She’s still blushing, and Anko is still incredibly confused and a little attracted to Rin’s blushing uncertainty, but now she’s _curious_ as well, and she’s never stopped herself from satisfying her curiosity before. Why start now?

Besides, even if the blush is a ruse and Rin tries to hurt her, Anko’s certain she can hold her own.

She nods, and feels the warmth of Rin’s palms pressing down over her ears. Rin’s fingers settle at the back of Anko’s head, right where the base of her skull meets her neck, and then Rin starts tapping her fingers, sending out pulses of medical chakra every time she connects.

It’s incredibly weird.

Anko can’t hear anything now except a sound like a drum, each tap of Rin’s fingers resonating through her skull, the chakra in her ears hissing like static.

Anko waits patiently for it to be over so she can ask what the fuck is going on, but Rin continues tapping for longer than the few seconds she’d been expecting. Much longer. After a full ten seconds, Anko slowly raises an eyebrow. Rin blushes harder and smiles sheepishly, but doesn’t stop, continuing for fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty full seconds before pulling her hands away, sheepish grin firmly in place.

“Sorry if that was weird,” she starts to say, but Anko isn’t listening, which is kind of funny because she can finally hear Rin perfectly.

Her ears aren’t ringing.

Anko spends a few valuable seconds of silence simply staring at Rin, and then she smiles brilliantly.

“It’s gone,” Anko murmurs, and she can hear the wonder in her own voice, but she really can’t care right now, because for the first time in years her tinnitus has been vanquished.

The ear-popping thing never made it go away entirely, and it’s only ever faded out on rare occasions that Anko has never been able to recreate intentionally, so this- this is _amazing._

Rin sits beside her with a relieved sigh.

“Thank fuck,” she breathes, and the curse makes Anko snort. She hadn’t expected that from a medic-nin. Rin rolls her eyes like she can hear what Anko’s thinking. “I haven’t found any tinnitus cure more reliable than that one, so don’t you laugh at me. I was so worried it wouldn’t work!”

Anko, a little overwhelmed at the sudden silence in her head, turns slowly to face Rin.

_“Thank you,”_ she says, and she’s never meant anything more in her life.

Rin simply smiles.

They stare at each other for an interminable moment, broken only when Rin’s rising blush finally causes her to drop her gaze.

“You’re the reason I went into medicine, you know,” Rin says, and Anko has spent this entire conversation at least a little confused. She’d really like to know what is going on here.

“What?” She asks, instead of demanding answers like she wants to, because she _can’t hear any ringing_ and she’s still a little stunned.

“I went into medicine for you,” Rin repeats, like she isn’t sure Anko can hear her, which, _fair,_ she just healed Anko’s ears so that kind of makes sense, but that isn’t what’s happening.

And Rin must finally clue in to the fact that Anko is entirely lost, because understanding fills her face.

She settles back against the bench, and Anko prepares herself for an explanation that will finally make sense.

“You’re my soulmate.”

Anko’s still lost.

“I’m your soulmate,” she repeats, flatly, and when Rin nods she starts to scoff, because if this was her soulmate then she would’ve _said her words_ and _wait-_

Oh.

_Oh._

“Oh, _fuck,”_ Anko breathes, staring at Rin with wide eyes, “I’m your _soulmate.”_

And Rin laughs, high and free like a tinkling bell, a ringing sound that Anko would be glad to hear every day of her life. And from the look Rin is giving her, full of hope and eager expectation, she might just get to.

**Author's Note:**

> I occasionally get tinnitus myself, and doing this really works to make it go away sometimes! Minus the medical chakra.
> 
> I mean, I'm sure the medical chakra wouldn't hurt, but yeah, can't do that.
> 
> Anyway, fic title is from The Bells Are Ringing by They Might Be Giants, which I'm refusing to link because listening to it might give _you_ tinnitus, lol.
> 
> I love comments, so feel free to leave one!
> 
> I'm also on tumblr as Sendryl. :)


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